My little story about a wee little grey cat that has been left behind by her owners when they moved away began as a story for my grandson. He would come to visit us every summer for a few weeks or a month and we would find all sorts of adventures to explore.
In the summer of 2009, he came in early June, just as a wild cat in our woods had given birth to six kittens. Kitty had come to the house in early Spring and was just the most pitiful sight, with broken whiskers, missing patches of fur, and painfully thin. We had previously seen a little grey cat at the neighbor's house around the corner from us, along with two dogs. The neighbor moved away and left the dogs and cats behind, presumably having someone feed the dogs left on the porch and chained in the yard. After a couple of weeks, the dogs disappeared and we hoped that the neighbor had returned to get them. We did not see the cat until she turned up at our house -- pregnant.
I began to feed her, along with my other outside cat, and she seemed to thrive. After she gave birth, I contacted the local Humane Society and asked for advice. They were unable to take her or her kittens because they had five times as many cats as they could care for. They suggested I get the mother cat spayed as soon as she weaned her kittens, and then get the kittens neutered or spayed when they were old enough, and they would try to place them for adoption.
Well, the story got interesting, and the result is that after doing all of the above and taming all the wild "woods-born" kittens, we became very fond of them. They now call our house their home and we couldn't do without them. What was a very sad story and one that happens too often became one that I hope children will read and take to heart. I hope they will learn that you cannot just throw your pets away like trash. You must treat your animals as you would your family.
